On our way out of Canyonlands, we passed some cattle.

Dead Horse State Park is not too far away.  We had to pay the $15 entrance fee since it is a state park, and not a national park and k’s 4th grade pass did not apply.

None of the national parks we visited this trip had any food available.  I was thankful that my research showed that this state park had a Pony Expresso stand just outside the visitor center.  We ordered two roast beef sandwiches and supplemented with our own drinks and chips.  We were looking for a picnic table when k pointed out some tables on the second story balcony of the visitor center.

The sandwiches were just ok…the bread was way to thick so the kids and I opted for open faced sandwiches.

We did not do any hiking here, but we did drive to the overlook where Thelma and Louise drove off the cliff.

It was neat to see this horseshoe in the Colorado River.

It’s so nice that n still smiles on demand.

In hindsight, this was probably not the safest resting place for n.

This is the point where I made D take pictures of me since there is no photographic evidence that I was in Capitol Reef!

These ATVs were everywhere.  I can see how they would be fun to ride in this desert environment.  Even though it is “only” a state park, Deadhorse was a worthwhile stop on our itinerary…especially since it was essentially on the way to our next destination, Arches National Park.

M&M World is conveniently located next to the World of Coca-Cola, so we took a look-see.

We sampled a few, including the Mega M&M, which is about the size of a Mentos.

We made it for the last showing of the free 3D Movie, “I Lost My ‘M’ In Vegas”.  Some of the 3D effects were pretty good, but the storyline and editing left a lot to be desired.

Our next stop was Shake Shack, which is in a new plaza by New York New York.

I was excited about our next and final food stop, Shake Shack.  D has been a few times while on business trips on the East Coast, but the rest of us had never been.

We ordered one Double Shack Burger, one regular burger, one order of fries and one Jackpot Concrete (frozen custard with strawberries and waffle pieces).  We could not help but compare it to In-N-Out.  The verdict?  The meat tastes more “natural” and is juicier, but not really worth paying double the price.  I am glad that I tried it, though, so I can check it off my list!  I am also a fan of the branding and the restaurant itself was a much larger and nicer space than I expected.

Our final stop was to walk next door to Hershey’s Chocolate World.  I liked the classy feel of this pedestrian area.

I told the kids to pretend to eat the chocolate characters, but I guess only k heard me!

Wall of Kisses.  This would have been more exciting except that I have already tried most of them!

There was a glass case full of indulgent treats.  After all that we ate that day, we were not even tempted.  I took some pics anyway…

I thought these Jolly Rancher candles were cute.

It would be fun if they had an international taste test of candies like Coca-Cola World had for soda.

Who buys these things??

By the end of our walking tour we were pretty tired.  We went back to our hotel, took showers, watched a little television, and went to sleep in preparation for the next leg of our trip.

After watching the water show at the Bellagio we walked to the Cosmopolitan Hotel for our second food stop, Secret Pizza.

I had bookmarked this place in the past to check out, but never had a chance.  It is located on the third floor of the hotel, down an unmarked hallway of album covers.  With close to 3,400 Yelp reviews, I would say Secret Pizza is not a very well-kept secret.

There were several types of pizza to choose from, but we just ordered one slice of the White Pizza.

Waiting in anticipation…

This is one slice cut into two pieces for easier sharing.  The crust was light and crisp.  n was a big fan of the ricotta cheese, which I did not know he liked.

Our next stop was the World of Coca-Cola store.

We bought the Tastes of the World sampler, which costs $9 for 16 samples of Coca-Cola products from around the world.

Don’t spill, D!

We each took a sip of each one and recorded whether we liked it or not.

This was k’s genuine reaction to the Beverly soda from Italy.  This picture cracks me up!

k’ s reaction to regular Coco-Cola when we visited Las Vegas in 2011.

n’s reaction then…

…n’s reaction now!

This was a really fun activity to do as a family.  My personal favorite was the Fanta Pineapple soda from Greece.  k liked the Vegitabeta from Japan.  In the end, we did not even come close to finishing all of the samples, so I did not feel too bad about our sugar consumption.

Our first stop was the ABC store in Planet Hollywood to buy souvenirs.  (Lucky penny key chain for n and Las Vegas Hello Kitty socks for k).  Then we checked out the always-impressive garden display at Bellagio.

Although it looks overcast, it was actually quite muggy and warm.

The theme was springtime in Japan!

Complete with koi fish!  I wonder how long it takes to switch out installations since they are so elaborate.

I thought the fountain show was every half hour, but it do not go on at 2:30.

Our next stop was across the street at The Linq.

I really like this newly developing area.  It feels more classy, and less sketchy than other parts of the Strip.  Our main destination here was Gordon Ramsay’s Fish & Chips.

The kids are HUGE fans of MasterChef Jr., so I thought this would be a fun stop for them.

While we were in line, there was a video screen where you can e-mail yourself a selfie.  I didn’t realize it was more of a short video!

We had other food stops in mind later, so we just ordered one fish and chips combo (three pieces of fish) to split among us.  I chose the mango curry and Gordon Ramsay tartar dipping sauces.

Seating was scarce, but we managed to snag four seats in a row.  The fish was piping hot and the batter was light and crisp.  I think I would have felt gross if I ate the whole thing by myself, though.

After our little “snack” we were able to watch the fountain show at Bellagio.

Too bad we were not around the area to see it at night since it is more impressive with the lights.

We were able to check into our room early, at around noon on Tuesday.  We had reservations at the Marriott Grand Chateau; it was free through D’s points.  The name makes it sound super fancy, but it is a pretty run-of-the-mill Marriott with a prime location just behind Planet Hollywood.  Ironically, the best part about it is that there is no casino and it does not smell like smoke, so you do not feel like you are in Vegas.

I believe it is primarily used as a timeshare property.  It is always nice to have a mini kitchen in the room.

The kids were not thrilled when we told them they would be on the sofa bed.

D and the kids checked out the pool area but did not go in.  It was on the small side by Vegas standards.

There was a “chocolate tasting” at 1:30 in the lobby, so of course we had to partake.  The fresh mango was especially yummy.

View from the outside of our hotel after wandering the Strip for about six hours!

Lobby shot

There was a security guard at the elevators making sure people were guests at the hotel.  I would definitely recommend this hotel to families looking for a place to stay on the Strip in a kid-friendly environment.

We started off our spring road trip a little later than usual in order to pick up our free breakfast at Chick Fil A (every Monday and Tuesday in April for you OC readers!)

It opened at 6:30 a.m. but we arrived at around 6:23.  When D pulled up to the drive thru, he triggered an alarm that said to come back when they were open–haha.

That day’s mystery item was the Egg White Grilled Chicken sandwich.  Good thing it was relatively healthy given the junky food we ate the rest of that day.

Our first stop was the Downtown Container Park in Las Vegas.

The Container Park is a retail space close to the Fremont Experience.  The stores are literally made from containers.

I read that this sculpture shoots fire out of its mouth at night, which would have been cool to see.  Since the park is only open to adults at night, that would not have been possible for us.

The main reason I wanted to visit was so that the kids could go on the slides of this cool tree house play structure.  However, the slides were closed for maintenance.  Boo!

We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed the nice weather on the artificial turf.

The only store we really checked out was Kappa Toys.  It was a fun place to browse.

There was a nice selection of Pusheen!

“Locks of Love”

I liked the concept of the Container Park, but without the slides, there was not much to do for the kids.  Next it was time to check into our hotel…

We started off our spring break by going to LEGOLAND on Monday with just the kids and me while D was at work.  We arrived before it opened and they actually let us into the park too early by accident.  Of course, the rides were not open yet anyway, and we were soon escorted back out.

W

We witnessed the opening ceremony where two sisters helped Kai officially open the park.

We wanted to stay near the right side of the park so we could ride the Technocoaster and Dragon Coaster first thing.  We checked out Mini Land, which opened before other sections of the park.

Someone said this mama duck looked like Duckzilla in comparison to the Lego building, which I thought was pretty funny.

It would be so cool to see LEGOLAND Japan!

We checked out some rides and areas that we have not done before.

The longest line we stood in was about 45 minutes.  I really do not understand why they did not have all three towers in operation during spring break!  The kids liked this one, though.

We’re hoping to go to the water park in the near future.  I was not brave enough to take the kids there by myself!

It seems that more and more people are becoming aware of Pi Day as pizza restaurants are publicizing it.  On March 14, Pieology offered pizzas for $3.14.  We have redeemed this offer in years past, but it was way more crowded this year.  We ended up waiting in line for two hours, which is one of the most not-so-smart things we have ever done, according to D.  However, a friend gave us a couple of unredeemed coupons, so we were able to buy four pizzas, which was enough for a few meals all together.  Also, we ended up chatting up the people next to us in line.  It turns out that the family used to live in our neighborhood, but we had never met them before!

I also made a pie for dessert!

Last week we celebrated n turning 8.

D picked out a radio control car for n.  He seemed to have ignored that it was meant for ages 14+!  It goes way too fast for indoor use, so they take it outside.

We had dinner at In-N-Out and treated n to a strawberry shake.

Strawberry seemed to be a theme, as n also requested a strawberry cake by made by my mom.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR3SPFDAOoW/?taken-by=derek.cal

We are so thankful n and all that he adds to our family.  We appreciate his energy, creativity and thoughtfulness and pray that God would continue to guide him through all of his days.

It has been a while since we have featured n’s creations.  I still see him sneaking some computer printer paper and tape every now and then.  Here are some recent ones that brought a smile to my face.

Don’t you hate when you get a new sticky hand snapper and it does not come with a container so then it gets dusty and dirty and loses its stickiness?  n’s solution was to make his own envelope to protect it–hehe.

He made this over-the-table pen holder so “you won’t get mad at me for having pens on the floor”.  I guess it also saves table space!

Finally, what do you do when your sister received an indoor basketball hoop that fits over the door for her birthday and you want one too?  You make your own!

And you add your own shooting range target underneath, because, why not?